Stress relief and trauma prevention for war affected children, adolescents and caregivers

Ukrainian children grow up in an environment defined by shelling and air raid alarms, displacement, family separation, and loss. School happens mostly online, lakes and forests may be mined, and caregivers rather keep children at home. The places where children can meet, play, and explore the world together have shrunk dramatically, and have practically disappeared in frontline proximity. At the same time, a child’s sense of safety depends on the adults around them. Parents, caregivers, and educators are heavily burdened themselves, and when they cannot cope, they cannot help children cope. After years of full-scale war, the cumulative effects of prolonged stress show in children’s development, wellbeing, and ability to connect.

Children, adolescents, and their caregivers cope with stress and traumatic experiences in a resilient way and stay capable of developing, learning, and connecting even in war. To achieve this, we work with the child’s whole environment: because regulated adults are a child’s strongest source of safety, the project strengthens parents, caregivers, educators, and helping professionals as much as the children themselves. And it goes beyond keeping children occupied. Children and adolescents learn to self-regulate, find their resources, and ask an adult for help when their own caregivers are overwhelmed.